COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel was confirmed Wednesday as Ohio’s next lieutenant governor.
State senators and representatives affirmed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Monday nomination of Tressel in separate floor votes Wednesday: 31-1 in the Senate, 68-27 in the House.
Tressel, 72, succeeds Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed last month to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance. DeWine has said that Tressel will remain involved in education and workforce development as lieutenant governor.
Tressel retired in 2023 as president of Youngstown State University, a position he had held since 2014. He also worked previously as executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron.
In an Associated Press interview on Wednesday, Tressel confirmed his party identification — it's Republican — and said he is a supporter of President Donald Trump inasmuch as he always supports the person who Americans elect to the nation's highest office.
Though he's not shared even those basic details publicly before, Tressel said he doesn't view himself entirely as a newcomer.
“When people ask you haven't been in politics, I say well I hope I've been in service my whole life,” he said. “I would like to believe that's what I've done, and I know that's what the folks that serve (in government) do.”
Tressel spent nearly a decade as head coach of Ohio State University’s football team, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002 and six Big Ten championships. He was pressured to resign his post there in May 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal rocked the team.
He said he's been involved in many projects since retiring from Youngstown State, including serving on the board of his alma mater, Baldwin Wallace University, and working to align education with Ohio's workforce development efforts.
He's also host of the podcast, “It's all about the Team,” that he said has been “a blast.”
“I said, you know, there's a million leadership podcasts, but I don't know if we talk about being part of a team enough, and how to become a better teammate and how do you build teams,” he said. Guests have included authors and people from the military, healthcare, business and other fields.
Julie Carr Smyth, The Associated Press
